new computer question

I am debating whether to buy a new computer or not. I have a packard bell legend 4610, with 120Mhz processor and 24 megs of ram; also, 1 gig HD. I was just wondering if it would be a better deal to upgrade my computer or just buy a new one? I don't know much about new computers or where to view/purchase them, so if anyone has any links or info about this, I'd appreciate it. Also, if anyone has any info about upgrading my old computer or links to where I could do it, that would be great. THANKS

 

Well, from what you are telling me, I don't think your computer can be upgraded much, and the upgrades you can do will be expensive and small... but it is up to you. Upgrading will be cheaper than buying a whole new computer, but when compared to the value of the upgrade parts, you are paying more then new parts sometimes 10x faster/better... however you can boost performance some for $200 or so, as apposed to upwards of $800 for a new computer.

Upgrades can be bought from most local computer stores, and can be found on the internet. Price Watch® is a good place to look for individual parts.

If you want to buy a new computer, I would suggest you buy either a Dell or a Sony Vaio. Dell I know for sure ships for free... Sony I'm not sure. Both of these companies make good systems and in my opinion are #1 and #2 and have similar prices... but Dell pulls out ahead in the PR and tech support department. Dell in my opinion also has the best PR out there for a computer company. Intel will release the Northwood P4 tonight at midnight, and Dell puts out its first Northwood P4 pc at midnight as well, and to my knowledge Dell is the only company that makes one so far. So... the Northwood I can imagine is a little pricy right now, but if you want a P4 I suggest you only get that one... the other two versions were sortta just an appitite pleaser and not the real thing. AMD is also good but run hot and load. The PIII and Celeron II are virtually the same but with a few minor differences, but the Celeron II is much cheaper. Sorry if this is too much at one time... but if you want to upgrade, you will need to check your manual if you have it to see what can be upgraded and by how much, and then you can go to local computer stores and PriceWatch to get the upgrades. If you want to get a new one, you can browse through Dell and Sony online to see if they have anything you like, and then you can either order online or go into a store by your home, where an employee there can be of further assistence. If you want to go new and don't find anything at Dell or Sony, Gateway is also good... but what ever you do I think you will find the most value and best quality and service at either Dell or Sony. Whatever you do, stay away from Compaq...

If you decide to upgrade, search around for good prices though... I wouldn't put much more than $250 in it. If you let me know if you decide to upgrade or go new... I can then be of further assistence.

 

I do not want to suggest a particular company to buy from, I would suggest you use a reputable local builder and have it built. Maybe some others have some suggestions.

As far as upgrading your PB, you would not have much success. The motherboard is a socket 5 which would not accccept anything above a pentium 166. unless you look at sites like www.powerleap.com and choose one of their solutions. Even if you did that, the system would still be very slow by todays standards. You are better off either learning enough to build your own or have a new machine built. I think it would be better money spent.

ps. I went through this years ago trying to upgrade a PB Platinum I pentium 133. Finally got it to a whopping 200mz.

SeeYa

 

I agree with deuce on the Compaq, Just as much of a hassle as the Packard Bells were.

SeeYa

 

Actually that is the best way to go. I didn't think of it before because I always build my own and forgot that people do that for a living... so if you can find a good place in town you are better off with that... however you usually don't get much tech support... but then again that is what we are here for.

Compaq tried very hard and succeeded in replacing Pakard Bell and both companies are just bizzare. Compaq has to do everything differently even if it means puting out a bad product. I once owned a PB and it was nice while it lasted... but that was with 386 standards. It is also the same way with Hewlett Packard... but they aren't all that bad though... they just target a specific market and do it well... only I have yet to figure out what that market is... I have stock in HP and it did real well for a while. Was at $148 a share until about end 2000 or early 2001... now it isn't all that great off. They make good printers though...

 

Sorry, guys, but I don't agree with the suggestion to have a computer built. Small computer shops go out of business, on average, after only two years. They likely will not be around to fix the system or offer any type of technical support.

Someone who is not very computer literate should buy a computer from a very reputable retailer with many, many years of experience and time in business and who can offer great technical support and warranties.

Dell is a great company, and I wouldn't recommend anything else for you, invdrs. They have good warranties on their systems, and they offer free technical support. Given your current computer specs, you don't seem like the kind of person who upgrade a lot, so extensive upgradablility is probably not important. Even if you did want to upgrade things like the memory, hard drive, or CD-ROM drives, that's very easy with a Dell. If you don't want to do it yourself, a good technician can do it for you.

Having a computer built or building your own computer are great ideas if you're comfortable with the hardware, but I don't think ivndrs is one of those people. In this case, top-notch reliability and great support are more important.

 

That's what I meant by "however you usually don't get much tech support... but then again that is what we are here for". TechChick is right though... building yourself or having someone else build can save you alot of money if you do it right... but if you aren't comfortable with it it isn't such a good idea as it is possible you can run into some problems that will likely rip your hair out. I say only consider Dell, and if you don't find anything you like with them, consider Sony... both are good machines with good tech support should you ever need it.

 

And here I sit with a P3 700 mhz Compaq that has run perfectly for the last 2 years !

Now I have to dump it cause you guys say they are junk !

Oh well , shoulda stayed in bed ...Rhett

 

Thank you guys and girls so much you've been a big help. I've decided to buy a new pc (maybe a sony?) and see what I can get for my old one. One thing I forgot to mention is the main purpose of my computer will be music production/recording and cd burning. I don't know if this changes anything; if it does, any further suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks alot.

 

What... you didn't notice? Well that is just my experience with compaq which I ceased to experience years ago. Maybe the new ones are better... who knows... but I am guessing not.

ivndrs... if you want it for music production, Sony might be better, but I'm not positive. Usually they are better for professional studio work... but I would recomend getting one without a cdrw and go get a Yamaha or Plextor yourself and put it in. They are just a little bit higher quality then the ones Sony uses. At their website you can build your own and so just leave out the cdrw in my opinion, possibly they have free shipping too. Also, Sony implements DVD-RW on some of their machines and you can get a good deal on it, if you will be needing a DVD-RW. However... if you really want a lot of raw horses, Dell to my knowledge is the only one with the Northwood P4, come midnight. If you are working with music only and not graphics intensize stuff, then you won't be so dependant on a lot of speed. Most places you can buy yesterdays computer (which is typically a 800 Mhz PIII or there abouts) for good prices... however from the looks of it if you want a Sony you will have to get a P4. I just checked and i know they used to sell AMD and Celeron and PIII... but it seems not anymore.

 

ivndrs, I hope we have not confused you yet, TechChick does make a good point. When I said reputable I meant "been in business for a number of years with a good reputation". Absolutely do not go to a local builder who is just getting started. In my area we have several local shops that have been building since the 1980's.
If you do not have such a shop Dell is a good bet. Or as deuce said, the Sony for music etc... Whatever you finally decide, I am sure you will notice a HUGE difference in performance.

See Ya

 

thank you all very much for your help, I am am proud to announce that I Bought a Sony Vaio and it's great. But now I have just one more problem: I am running windows XP, and I just installed Cubase. But when I try to open the file, it just brings up this error message: "The procedure entry point SMapLS_IP_EBP_12 could not be located in the dynamic link library KERNEL32.dll." This program is important to me and I would really like to use it, could anyone help me with this?

 

Did you update Cubase to version 5.1? If not, you might want to try that. I believe that 5.0 has some problems with XP.